Back to Barombi Mbo

Sunday July 5, 2009

Today we headed off to Barombi Mbo to visit the village that ETHOS and Mark worked in last summer. There were no canoes waiting for us, so we took the path that encircles the lake. It takes close to an hour to make the journey to the village (not including walking up and down the hills on the way to the Kumba side of the lake). When we finally got to the village, there wasn’t a big celebration or ceremony (which was a relief). We met with two of the system caretakers, George and Emmanuel. After a short rest stop, we headed off with them and The Game to the catchment. The Game is one of the many Area Boys from last year. They are all close to each other and us in age. All of them have nicknames. Later in the day we would meet Sexy, Gunshot, and many others.

Last year’s students will be happy to learn that the system is still functioning well and has only had a few small maintenance issues. Seeing the project in person gave me an entirely new respect for the complexity and size of last year’s venture. I can’t believe they were able to complete it with such a small workforce in comparison to what we have this year. Once we were back at Emmanuel’s Pa’s house, Mark began to hand out all types of presents for his friends. The most desired items were the UD Magazines highlighting the project. Many of the people we were talking with were mentioned or pictured somewhere in the article. Julius also handed out letters to the Area boys from Justin Forzano (an ETHOS participant in Cameroon for the previous 3 summers). All of the Area Boys loved their letters.

One short nap later we headed back to the house for some palm wine and music. For the night’s festivities we went to a small bar/room in the lower part of the village. Here we met up with most of the Area Boys as well as Mr. George. The dancing began in a dance-off format. Individuals or duos would request a song then dance. If they were good enough, we would give them 100 CFA. Yet again, Cameroonians are some of the best dancers I’ve ever seen. After an hour or so of the dance-off, the whole dance floor filled with people and we partied the night away. I can see how it was easy for last year’s group to fall in love with the villagers, much in the way I love being with the villagers of Boa Bakundu.

Monday July 6, 2009

Typical Cameroon waiting was the theme of the morning. We hoped to leave around 10 or so. We didn’t make it back to Kumba until after 3 in the afternoon. The first wait was for Julius to find us some breakfast to purchase. Next, we waited for a couple of hours to get some Barombi fish for our Ma in town. At least we were lucky enough to have canoes to take us across for our return trip. The journey via the lake was pretty scary. Dugout canoes aren’t the most stable vessels. Combine that with a lack of lifejackets and the expansive size and unknown depth of the lake and you have the ingredients for a nervous experience. I think after a few trips though, the anxiety would go away. Mark acknowledged that the village seemed empty on our trip. Most likely, many villagers stayed more often in Barombi Mbo last summer to assist with the project.

In the afternoon we stopped at the Hardware Man’s and Mr. Benjamin’s office. We picked up replacement materials for the broken air release valve as well as surveying equipment. This week we will complete the survey for the next phase of the project. The last item we picked up was an application for funds from the US Embassy in Cameroon. Hopefully, we can get the villagers even more money through the Self-Help program.

Tuesday July 7, 2009

Back to the village we went. Nobody was around to help us today, so we headed up to the broken air release valve on our own. While I ventured to the catchment to turn off the water, Mark and Brian began to dig up the section of the pipeline near the valve. Upon my return, Mark and Brian told me that the ground near the valve was dry and there were no visible signs of a leak. Benjamin must have been looking for a more complex explanation than our hypothesis of dirt clogging the line. In addition to no signs of a leak, the water had resumed clear, full bore flow at the aeration chamber on Sunday.

Upset Alert: defending champions Bakassi lost to Tombe 1-0 on Sunday. We discovered that Dibamba lost 1-0 as well. Today was the first day I’d played football in what seemed like forever. We played with many older men from the village. Mark ended up talking us onto their veteran team so that we could play in some matches before we head back to the US.